


This is Love

by twilightscribe



Category: Gundam SEED
Genre: M/M, One Shot, Romance, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-24
Updated: 2011-04-24
Packaged: 2017-10-18 15:24:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/190288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twilightscribe/pseuds/twilightscribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A confession in the rain. Love's not a forgiving force, it just doesn't leave you be. Shinn's learning this the hard way. KiraShinn</p>
            </blockquote>





	This is Love

**Pairing:** Kira/Shinn  
 **Words:** 5 206 words  
 **Disclaimer:** All I have to say is, it's not mine. I don't own anything here but the weird plot. Gundum SEED Destiny and its characters belong to Bandai and others, the song is _This is Love_ by Kelly Rowland, and I don't own _The Phantom of the Opera_ either.

 **This is Love**

  
It wasn’t a heavy rain storm, one with thunder and lightening. Rather, it was one of those light showers of rain that made you feel happy or content. The sky wasn’t crying; even though it had every right to be doing so after the horrors that it had witnessed.

Kira stood on the small veranda that ran around the front and side of the house, watching as the rain fall. His eyes were distant, like he wasn’t really there; his thoughts were far away from where he was right now. The silence was broken only by the rain hitting the roof and ground as well as his soft breathing.

 _“I've had enough of your sanctimonious talk. You think you've got all the answers!? Or have you forgotten all the lives you've personally taken!?”_

He knew that, he’d accepted that. He’d taken lives; he’d created situations where others had had to kill. There was no way from him to wash off the blood on his hands; they were permanently stained crimson from all those he’d failed to protect and save, those whose lives he’d taken, and those who had taken lives because of something he’d done or created.

So that was why he’d taken up his sword again, with a new perspective. It was no longer a kill or be killed mentality that he possessed; he knew that he could make a difference, and that was what he chose to do.

 _“I don't want to kill any more, and I will not let others kill.”_

Kira sighed and looked back up to the dark gray skies that were spitting lightly now; he didn't think the rain would last much longer, either that or it would get much heavier. But really, he didn't care; it could rain and thunder all it wanted, Kira would still remain there, dwelling over everything. He almost couldn't believe how much his life had changed in such a short period of time; after all, it had only been two years ago that everything had changed, that the world he knew had crumbled and been destroyed.

There would always be Lacus, but neither of them could ever be what Cagalli and Athrun were to each other. As much as they tried, it just... it just didn't seem meant to be. Kira wondered if that one part of his heart that had loved Fllay would ever come back to him, he wondered if he could ever really love a woman again; what with his horrible luck with them, he wasn't sure.

And then there was Shinn.

Shinn Asuka.

Yes, Kira knew, knew that what he felt for the younger Coordinator wasn't reciprocated. For one thing, they'd fought on different sides of the battlefield; they'd been sworn enemies, and he was sure that some of that enmity still remained. But that wasn't all.

Kira knew that he'd killed someone Shinn had loved.

He didn't know precisely what it was that Shinn had felt for that young Extended pilot of the Destroy, but he was that by killing her that he had pretty much wrecked any chance at all that he'd had with him. Kira sighed again and stared out into the rain, this time with a much more sad air to him. He felt depressed; lonely. What he really wanted, was someone; someone special to love and who would love him. That was all.

"What's with you? You look like someone just died."

Kira started and looked away from the clouds and down to his visitor. Shinn looked up at him, a dark red umbrella in one hand as he looked up at the Ultimate Coordinator with the funniest look in his red eyes. He was wearing a pair of dark wash skinny jeans with his typical slouchy boots and a black hoodie over a black graphic tee. The rain paused briefly before coming down in a harsh downpour; bucketfuls were dumped down on the landscape and on Shinn.

"It's nothing, Shinn-kun."

"You know, you can drop the '-kun' part. No one addresses me with a honorfic," the younger Coordinator admonished. He took the single step up onto the porch, closing his umbrella and leaning it against one of the columns before coming to stand beside Kira. Crossing his arms and resting them on the banister, he leaned on them; his head turned to face the violet eyed man beside him. "So are you going to tell me why you look so down or not?"

The slight biting edge in his voice that Kira recognized so well in a more intense fashion didn't throw him off. He was able to respond in a calm fashion.

"It's nothing."

Which was probably the wrong thing to say.

"Bullshit! If it was nothing, then you wouldn't be out here moping all on your own!" Shinn snapped, his hands tightening into fists. When he realized that, he looked away from Kira; the strain of willing away his anger and the fists his hands had clenched into was very visible. Kira felt horribly guilty; he'd never liked to lie in the first place, but there were times that he felt it was necessary.

"I was just thinking about some things... about some things that Athrun said to me once," Kira's voice was low, impassive. It sent shivers up Shinn's spine; hearing Kira talk like this, it was a completely different tone to the one that he was very used to hearing.

One that he secretly liked very much.

He hadn't come up here to push Kira; no, nothing like that. Shinn had promised himself that this time he would keep his temper in check and have a level-headed, or as much as he could manage, conversation with the violet-eyed, brunette Coordinator as he could. There were a few lose ends he needed tied before he could move on; but Kira was surprising him. He didn't expect him to open up this much, would it be too much to hope for more?

God, Shinn hoped not.

The fragile thing inside his chest couldn't take much more.

"Care to explain?"

Kira's voice was still the unemotional, flat, low monotone when he continued, "He asked me once, if I'd forgotten all the lives that I had taken... when I refused to go back to Orb. The truth is, I have. Only the ones that I can... put a name to a face, to an enemy, do I remember. And others, others who I have only heard about, gotten to know through others' description... I can't feel remorse, and that makes me feel horrible inside; like I should have more of a heart. But I do understand what I've done, and what I will continue to do; all I can do right now, is continue living and trying to keep the world in a place where they would have been happy. That's all I can do, and that's how I have chosen to honor their memories. Each and every one of them."

Taking a cautious peek at Kira's face, Shinn noticed the dead look in his eyes. When he'd been fighting... often times he'd let his emotions take control of him instead of thinking through the situation and its consequences. But when Kira put what he'd done into words like that...

"But that's not all. I have gotten... emotionally involved with conflicts when I shouldn't, when I knew better then to do so. I killed for the sole reason of my own survival, and that of those I cared about. That was stupid and reckless of me... when I realized that, I knew I had to change; I was only helping to perpetuate the conflict, and fanning the flames of anger and hatred.

"And I don't know, really, whether what I've done has made a difference or not. All I can do is continue doing what I'm doing, in the hopes that one day, something good will come out of it. That I'll have atoned for what I've done."

The way that Kira was able to draw parallels from his life and, though completely unknowingly, Shinn's, made the younger Coordinator feel awkward; like he was around an ancient sage who dispersed wisdom at will. It all contributed to how out of place Shinn felt around the older Coordinator, and also threw into harsh light just how wrong his attraction was.

Here he was, a blood-stained teenager who had no control over their temper at all who had fallen in love with the most least likely person to return it. Kira was his exact opposite, in many more ways then just simply one; there were too many to name.

And there were his own sins and problems that he had to deal with, the grief that he still felt at Stellar's death, the anger that still lurked within him. But he couldn't deal with all of that on his own, so many people had already tried to help him; but there was only person who could really help him with his internal torment.

Kira Yamato.

It had taken some time, but Shinn had finally come to terms with Stellar's death at Kira's hands. The mere fact that, once he'd found out who the pilot of the Freedom really was, he couldn't hold a grudge against the one that he loved. He'd accepted Stellar's death as a casualty of the war, and also, that in this way, it was the one way that she was free; that she was safe. Because, really, no matter what Shinn could have done or changed, Stellar would still have had to be returned to the Earth Alliance where she would continue to be used as an expendable pilot to wreak more death and destruction.

Stellar was finally at peace.

Just like she'd told him she was.

Luna and Athrun had helped; but the latter had been the one to be most helpful. Athrun knew, had been in war before, and knew the casualties and outcomes of war from emotion and the feelings of losing someone who you cared about in war.

 _"War is impersonal; it pits people against one another and slowly takes away people precious to everyone on both sides. You have to remember that, that war doesn't care in its endless thirst for blood; you're a soldier, and she was a soldier who was killed in battle. If she was a civilian, then it would be different. But it's not. She was a soldier who died following her orders in battle. You have to accept that."_

It had taken time, and a lot of it, but Shinn had finally accepted Stellar's death. And, when he thought more about it, had Kira not acted the way he had; both of them wouldn't be here now and things would look very different. Thinking about it like that, about Kira being dead instead of Stellar... his heart threatened to shatter; it couldn't survive with the idea of that, and neither could Shinn himself.

Kira meant too much to him.

He swallowed, he'd come out here in the hopes that he could actually admit how he felt and get his rejection over with. Shinn knew that it would be too much for him to hope for that Kira would even return his feelings in the slightest; he knew about Kira and Lacus, that their relationship was like the one between Athrun and Cagalli, only much more subtle. So why would Kira ever want someone like him when he could have someone like Lacus? It wouldn't make sense.

And Shinn had absolutely no skill with words. He'd probably butcher this terribly and mess up, embarrassing himself horribly before Kira gently told him it was nothing and just as gently informed him that he had already found someone. Shinn knew that his heart wouldn't survive that, but he'd do his best; he wouldn't add on to Kira's grief, he wouldn't. He loved Kira too much to do anything that would cause the older Coordinator pain.

Actions had always been Shinn's strong point. If he couldn't tell Kira how he felt, then he'd just have to do his best to show Kira how he felt.

"You didn't come here for small talk Shinn. So what is it that brought you all the way out here to see me?"

Well, it was now or never.

Shinn took a deep breath, this was it. This was what he'd been preparing himself for all week; it was time that he came clean about how he felt. If he didn't do it now, he might not get another chance.

Before Kira could say or do anything, he was shocked when Shinn's hands suddenly had a vice-like grip on his shoulders and the younger Coordinator had propelled himself forward so that their faces were only scant millimeters apart; he could feel the other's warm breath on his lips. This was quickly followed by Shinn murmuring so quietly that it was barely audible over the pounding of the rain.

"I love you Kira Yamato."

And then his lips came crashing down on Kira's.

Too shocked to respond at that moment, Shinn pulled away after a few long seconds. His expression was nearly unreadable, and it fell as he looked at Kira's completely floored expression.

"Shinn, I..."

Shinn took it the wrong way, he backpedaled away, his voice sounded dull, lifeless. "I'm sorry... I'll see you around!" And he took off out into the rain, completely forgetting his umbrella.

Not looking back, the younger Coordinator realized that he'd forgotten his umbrella when he'd torn out of there but he didn't want to go back and have to face Kira with the memory of what he'd just done fresh in both their minds. While Shinn didn't regret what he'd done, but maybe he shouldn't have been so forward... he might have pushed his luck and that tentative friendship with Kira to far with that kiss, as brief as it had been. Right now, he didn't think he could take another confrontation with the other man; the rejection was still too fresh, the pain still too sharp. But he would have to grow used to it; he knew that it wouldn't go away at any time soon, he would have to live with it for the rest of his life.

As he ran down the small step and across the walkway that led to the small house, the rain soaked through his clothes and hair; streaking down his face and mixing with his tears. The cement was slippery, and Shinn lost his balance and he plunged towards the cement. His hands shot out to catch himself, but it was unneeded.

A single wet, tanned hand fastened itself around his arm, pulling him back onto his feet and steadying him; the other hand came up, softly tilting his chin up before ghosting along his jawline and cupping his cheek. Even with his face angled towards the other Coordinator, he didn't want to look into the amethyst eyes that he was sure were searching out his; the wounds in his heart... he couldn't have them ripped deeper and wider. Wasn't it enough that his heart was already shredded?

"You... I didn't..." Kira took a deep breath. "I didn't think... you'd ever say that; that you felt that way, Shinn..."

Hesitantly, Shinn risked a peek at Kira's eyes. They were dark, unreadable; but something in them gave Shinn hope. Kira didn't struggle with words like this, well, at least Shinn had never seen him like this before; someone might have, someone who would have known him longer. But that short peek turned into a full blown stare, and Shinn found that he couldn't tear his eyes away from those captivating amethyst orbs.

"You don't have to be insecure..." Kira fingers swept aside Shinn's soaked ebony bangs, revealing his garnet eyes that sparkled with unshed tears. Those same agile, slightly callused fingers brushed them away with a tender care reserved for that of a lover. His voice died in his throat; he couldn't find anything to say, all he could do was listen to Kira as he spoke. "Forgive me, for all I've done to hurt you."

Kira leaned in, his lips lightly touching Shinn's forehead as he continued to speak; Shinn could feel his heart skipping beats and hammering in his chest. This... this was **_real_** ; this was actually happening.

"And yet... you still say that you love me. I really don't deserve you..." Kira's breath ghosted along Shinn's jaw as he spoke, his words burning into Shinn's mind. "But I can't help it, that I feel the same way; that I do love you."

Then, those warm, soft lips had covered his own in a sweet, innocent kiss.

Unable to find anyway to react, he just stood there; Shinn was too shocked to respond, this was more then what he'd hoped for. His heart, which had been shattered when he'd believed that Kira had rejected him, began to close its wounds and threatened to explode from all the the joyous emotions that were expanding within his chest. They seemed to radiate from within his heart.

He pressed up, throwing his arms around Kira's neck and pulling the older Coordinator down slightly so that Shinn didn't have to strain himself on his tiptoes to reach Kira's lips. A tiny smile graced his lips as Kira pulled back and let his forehead rest on Shinn's; a very similar expression on his face.

"Would you believe me, if I said that I love you?" Kira breathed; his amethyst eyes locked on Shinn's garnet's ones, looking for any emotions that he could discern from their depths.

Shinn watched Kira's eyes too, his smile broadening when he saw the emotions that his heart so desperately needed to see. Kira's eyes never lied.

"Your eyes don't lie," was his reply. "But if you want to prove it, then kiss me again." Lips fell onto his again, only this time, there was a little more of a passionate edge to them; but it was still as loving and delicate a kiss as the first.

The rain was ignored as it beat relentlessly on them, they stayed where they were; too engrossed in their newly revealed love. Each had spent so long worrying that they wouldn't feel this, that there was no chance for them, and now, they found that there was a **_them_** , nothing else mattered.

Pulling away once more, Kira entwined their fingers together, smiling as he gently tugged at Shinn's hand.

"Come, let's get inside before we catch something." Shinn smiled warmly at him, letting the older Coordinator guide him into the small cabin.  


 **.:-o-:. .:-o-:.**

  
First time Luna saw him in two months, she threw herself onto him in a hug that nearly squeezed the life out of him; shocking the other people in the grocery store when she did so.

"You idiot Shinn! Not answering my calls, not telling me where you went! What sort of idiot are you?!" she glared at him, releasing him. "I've been so worried about all this time! Where have you been?!"

"I've been..." How could he answer that? Luna had the most inopportune timing whenever she called him; always calling when he was in the middle of a rather... **_intimate_** moment with Kira. They were exploring their newfound relationship, and Shinn didn't want to interrupt those times with Luna's rather loud, and sometimes lengthy, conversations.

That would kill the mood quite nicely.

"Busy." He gave a tiny smile at that. Luna didn't need to know everything that was going on in his life.

"I'm free this evening, how about we go out to see that musical? I got tickets, so how about a date?" Luna looked up at him hopefully. "C'mon Shinn, it's Phantom of the Opera! I got good tickets too! Fourth row!"

"Wait, that's TONIGHT?" Shinn asked, completely floored. How Luna had gotten those tickets, he didn't know; but it didn't change the fact that he was already going to see it. With someone else.

"Well no duh! I've been trying to get ahold of you so that I could tell you that!" Luna was giving him a horribly peppy grin.

How could he break this to her nicely? Well, he'd have to give it a shot... "I'm sorry Luna... but I can't go with you."

"What? Why?!" Her voice rose to a louder level, causing even more people to stare at them.

"Um well... I promised that I'd go with... someone else..." He turned bright red at the mention of that 'someone else'; it wasn't his fault that Kira had decided that they needed proper dates and had settled on this as their first. Luna was most likely going to kill him.

Or simply follow him, then kill him. And probably Kira too.

"You WHAT?!"

Shinn winced at the volume of her voice, he could see that she was on the verge of a breakdown. This wasn't what he needed at this point; he'd just come in to grab a few things before dashing back out to the cabin where he was now practically living with Kira.

"I'm going with someone else... sorry Luna..." Shinn looked at her apologetically before stepping around her. "Call me later, okay?"

"Shinn!"

But the young male Coordinator was already out of the aisle and in the check-out line. He sighed heavily. The cashier, a pretty young lady, gave him a flirtatious smile, "Bad break-up?"

"Not exactly," Shinn muttered as the cashier scanned through his groceries. "More like jealous best friend who refuses to take a hint that there's nothing more between us."

Her flirtatious smile didn't falter; Shinn got the idea that she had taken an interest in him too, "I see... you playing the field then?"

"Sorry, no. I'm taken." Shinn paid and took his groceries, leaving a surprised cashier behind and an unhappy best friend who was probably extremely ticked off at him for canceling a 'date' that they never had. He sighed; he really wasn't happy about all the unhappy women in his life. This wasn't fair.

Joining the large crowd of people on the sidewalk, Shinn began the walk back to where he was, sort of, now living with Kira. Really, he couldn't find a proper way to describe what their living arrangement was; but it was sort of obvious that they were living together. Which is funny, considering that they hadn't even had an official, or proper, **_date_** yet. This was a bit of a backwards relationship.

Not kidding there.

Shinn had thought a lot about what he was going to do when his relationship with Kira couldn't be kept secret any longer; after all, he knew he couldn't stay in the closet for so long. Well, maybe Luna wouldn't take it too hard, after all, he'd never taken an interest in any girl; so maybe she'd seen it coming? He really hoped that she wouldn't take it too badly, even though she'd been in love with him for years.

The walk back didn't take too long, and Shinn put his ear buds in for his mp3. It had been Luna's present for him, and she's loaded with songs that she had a liking for. As the strains of Kelly Rowland's This is Love pulsed through them; Shinn found himself drawn into the lyrics more so than he thought he would in a love ballad.

' _No I'm no easy angel  
I'm moody like the wind  
I am impatient, complicated  
I am fragile deep within._'

Oh great, he'd just found the lyrics that nearly perfectly described himself, he continued walking back; actually listening to (and actually appreciating) the song that Luna had so thoughtfully put on it.

' _But you're no fool  
And I'm no little girl  
Have we not found  
There is love in the world._'

He'd listened to this song more than once, but he hadn't ever felt emotionally attached to it or attached to it any way. He'd only considered it another sappy love ballad; although, he had to admit that Rowland had a pretty good voice. This sort of song wasn't really his sort of music, but he'd thought that it would hurt Luna's feelings if he deleted them, so he'd left them on there.

The weather today was mild; a stark contrast to the heavy rain and thunderstorms that had been the norm for the past two months on and off. It was still an overcast sky, but the clouds were a light, smoky gray and the weather was cool with a soft summer breeze that ruffled his clothing and hair.

When he arrived back at the cabin, there was a black convertible parked in the driveway up by the house. Shinn stopped for a moment, wondering who it could be. He shrugged it off and continued up and into the house. The door was unlocked, he went in, kicked off his shoes and went into the kitchen; voices floated into the hall from the living room and he recognized both of them. One of them was Kira's, and the other was Athrun's.

"... haven't seen you in a while. Cagalli's a little worried about you; you've been living here for months now, and you haven't visited anyone. You can't stay here all alone forever Kira."

Shinn stopped outside the living room to listen; he was pretty sure that Athrun hadn't heard him, so he was safe to eavesdrop on the conversation. At least, for a little while.

"No, I'm fine Athrun. Cagalli doesn't have to worry about me, and you don't either. I'm not alone."

"What do you mean?" Shinn didn't like that he couldn't see their faces as they talked, because it meant that he couldn't take a guess at what they were thinking; but most of all, he wanted to see what was on Kira's face. But judging by Athrun's tone of voice as he asked that, the older Coordinator was completely confused by that statement.

"What I mean is that I'm not staying here alone, there's someone here with me."

"Who?!"

Shinn tiptoed down the hall to the kitchen to put the groceries he'd bought away. As he was doing so, there was a shocked gasp, and he promptly knocked a can of soup off one of the shelves and it landed soundly on his head when Athrun exclaimed, "Shinn?!"

Rubbing his head where the can had connected, and it had connected rather hard, he looked up at the Coordinator who'd acted very much as a mentor to him during the war. Kira was smiling, and Athrun looked completely floored; Shinn glared at them both.

"I'd appreciate it if you two didn't cause me to drop anymore cans on my head," was his reply. Kira laughed; Athrun looked between the two of them with a very confused expression on his face that was slowly melting into realization. He'd obviously caught onto it now.

"Wait... you two are...?!" Athrun's eyes bulged. "Oh hell... you have got to be kidding me... Kira Yamato and Shinn Asuka?! A couple?!"

Shinn glared at his boyfriend, "I'm going to guess that you didn't tell him about us?"

"I thought that you'd appreciate it if you told him yourself," Kira replied as he laughed before coming over and running his hand through Shinn's hair before planting a gentle kiss on the offended area. His smile, when Shinn looked up, was warm and soft, meant only for him. "Unless you wanted me to tell him."

"Actually, I think I might have liked it if one of you had given me a heads up about all of this," Athrun muttered, still trying to recover from the shock that his best friend and his old comrade had dealt him. Once he'd regained some of his usual composure, Athrun decided that he wanted the entire situation clarified a little. "So, how long has this been going on for? No wait, what I mean is, how long have you two been seeing each other?"

"We've been living here for two months," Kira responded promptly.

"And who started this?"

"I did," Shinn replied, his cheeks heating up and turning a delightful shade of bright red.

"How many dates have you had?"

Kira smiled, "Our first one is tonight."

The emerald eyed Coordinator lurched forward a little, his mouth agape, "You've been living together for two months, and you haven't gone on a single date yet?!"

"... not yet," the youngest Coordinator felt his cheeks heat up even more; oh why did Kira have to be so honest about these things? Athrun didn't need to know everything about their love life! Shinn would've rather liked to fold himself against Kira's side and bury his face in his shoulder to hide the crazy blush that he was sporting, but it turned out that he didn't need too.

With a heavy sigh, Athrun shook his head, "It's more than I'd ever expected, or hoped for, when it came to the two of you. I didn't think that Shinn could ever get over his own anger, that's his shortcoming; other than that, the two of you are very much alike." He glanced at his watch, then gave a small smile to them. "Sorry I can't stay longer; I took some time out of my schedule to come and visit, Cagalli will be wondering where I am."

"Thanks for dropping by Athrun," Kira replied. "You're always welcome here. Come back sometime."

"Yeah, good luck on your date tonight," Athrun winked at them before he left.

"Kira..."

"Yes Shinn?"

"Was that really necessary?" He glared at his boyfriend before giving a little squeak as said boyfriend scooped him up and set him on the counter.

Kira smirked, "Of course."

And then he cut off any comebacks with a prompt kiss.  
 ****

.:-o-:. .:-o-:.

  
Shinn tugged at the collar of his shirt as Kira slid his arm around his waist. They'd arrived at the theater in plenty of time, and Shinn was casting nervous glances around; hoping that they seemed discrete enough that Kira wouldn't notice them. Of course, that was hoping for a little much, Kira was surprisingly very observant.

Okay, not so surprising.

"What are you looking for love?" Kira whispered in Shinn's ear as they took their seats. Shinn had been a little surprised that they'd actually gotten box seats, but then again, Kira **_is_** the sister of the country's lead representative. The seats were very nice, and situated so that you could see the stage and the players' faces perfectly. It was an amazing seat.

"Luna." Shinn strained his neck a little, finally spotting the pink-haired girl as she took her seat. There was a sour look on her face as she took her seat, and he saw her look around very obviously; she was looking for him. Shinn ducked his head a little and reached unconsciously for Kira's hand, squeezing it.

"Your friend?"

He nodded, "Yeah, she invited me to come today. She's been calling me to tell me that she got tickets and wanted me to come with her... I ran into her when I went to grab a few things. She wasn't too happy when I told her that I was going with someone else; namely you."

"So does she know that I'm here with you?"

"No, I didn't tell her that... just that I was already going... with someone else..."

Kira smiled, watching as his boyfriend shifted nervously beside him in his seat; when Luna looked their way, he immediately turned a bright shade of pink and ducked his head. It was terribly amusing to watch Shinn attempt to hide himself using Kira, especially when he failed to do so before Luna noticed him. At the moment, Shinn couldn't see her as his face was currently buried in Kira's shoulder and he was muttering something that Kira couldn't make out. However, the look on the young lady's face was priceless.

Her mouth dropped open and her eyes bulged. She mouthed Shinn's name but the lights dimmed and the curtains were drawn as the performance began.

Oh, it was going to be a long night.

 **FIN.**


End file.
